Opéra-bouffe in three acts
Libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo
First performed November 28th 1877, Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris

Sung in French with German surtitles
Duration: c. 2 3/4 hrs. incl. one interval

About the piece

Every year King Ouf I celebrates his name day with a public execution. This year, struggling to find a victim, he comes across one more or less by chance: Lazuli, a peddlar, who has fallen in love with Princess Laoula, the King’s intended bride. When the royal astrologer announces that Ouf’s fate is closely linked with Lazuli’s, and that the King must die 24 hours after Lazuli breathes his last, the plan is changed: the peddlar is brought to court and treated royaly and, in the end, is even allowed to marry the princess.
The world premiere of Emmanuel Chabrier’s Opéra bouffe L’Étoile was a great success with public and press but it vanished from the repertoire after only 48 performances – either the singers were ill or, as is more likely, because after the 50th performance the composer and librettist would have earned the lion’s share of the royalties instead of the theatre... L’Étoile, all but forgotten in the 19th century, was still only a secret tip for French operetta experts and rarely performed in the 20th century.